Australia’s 3 on 3 basketball team have recorded their second victory defeating France 21-15 in a tough battle at Singapore’s Scape Youth Space.

Australia had to fight back after being down early, but eventually took the lead late in the first half before going on with it late in the game.

Captain Olivia Bontempelli was the stand out performer scoring 12 points in under 6 minutes on court, including some clutch shots down the stretch to help the Australians prevail.

The Aussies failed to get off to same lightening start they did in Sunday’s match against Chile with the French taking advantage and getting out to an early lead.

Bontempelli got the green and gold on the board before they wore down the French late in the first half going ahead with 19.1 seconds to go as they took a 8-7 lead into the half time break.

Mikhaela Donnelly extended the lead to 4 early in the second half before the France’s Onayssa Sbahi got hot from downtown, hitting back to back three pointers and giving the French a 13-11 lead.

Bontempelli was cool under pressure as she converted two free throws to bring the scores back level at 13-13, before then converting a three point play to give the Australians a lead they would eventually extend to 6 before the final buzzer sounded.

“This was a lot harder than yesterday’s game,” said Bontempelli.

“It was a totally different game, it was a lot quicker. They were really fast so we had to play up against them hard and get some shots up because they had some pretty tight defence.”

With two games down, the Australian captain admits the team is slowly getting more accustomed to the hectic pace of the competition. 

“This game is a lot faster so you have to get in the swing of things early. I suppose when I go back home it is going to be completely different playing 5 on 5.”

The Aussies will now back up for the third straight day of play against the Japanese in tommorrow’s match.

“I suppose they will be shooters. They will be quick so we will have to adjust to the way they play. We let France get to many three pointers so we have to adjust and see how we go.”

The Aussies will look to make it three from three in the 3 on 3 tomorrow when they take on Japan at 12:30pm at the Scape Youth Space.

Matt Bartolo

AOC